At a special called meeting Tuesday, the Russellville City Council approved an intent to accept a bid of $349,000 from Russellville-based Williamson Construction for renovation of the building on East Second Street the city purchased last year to house district court.

The original low bid was a net bid of $287,500 by Mahan Construction. Architect Bob Hiegel, however, recommended the council declare the bid void. He said he had checked the references for Mahan Construction and found out both positive and negative information about the company.

The issue, Hiegel said, was that the company was not pre-licensed to buy certain electrical supplies and it would be illegal for them to do so. For that reason, Hiegel recommended the council determine the bid as non-responsive and throw it out.

"I would like to see us consider refunding his 5 percent bid bond with no consequences and get (city attorney) Trey (Smith) to write something that there would be no action against us," Alderman Garland Steuber suggested.

Such an agreement would prevent Mahan from taking any action against the city for not accepting its proposal as the lowest bid.

The council's motion to grant an intent to accept Williamson's bid included the condition Hiegel take the same steps to check references and other background information on Williamson as he did with Mahan.

Russellville Mayor Bill Eaton also informed the council Tuesday he received information from Russellville-based engineer Kurt Jones regarding the cost of repairs to the parking lot at the proposed district court site. He said Jones estimated repairs and a 2-inch overlay on the parking lot would require 370 tons of asphalt, for a total cost to the city of $25,900. Eaton said the Public Works Department would take care of painting the lines on the lot.

The City Council also spent several minutes discussing whether the city should put up a facade on the north side of the building - the part of the building occupied by tenant Crouch's Cabinet Shop.

A city ordinance requires a facade on the "front or visible side" of the building that is "fully facing the street." The current plans for the building, which formerly housed the Disabled American Veterans, include a brick facade on the west side of the building, but not on the north.

Alderman Martin Irwin said he felt the west side of the building could reasonably be construed as the "street side" of the building.

Alderman Mark Tripp felt the city needed to put forth a good faith effort to not appear to sidestep regulations.

"We have to abide by the same standards we hold everyone else to," he said.

In the end, the council voted unanimously to inform the contractor the city would like to invest in inexpensive siding for the north side of the building as part of the project.

City Hall renovations

Russellville Mayor Bill Eaton said Garrison Construction, the company working on renovations to the city's downtown City Hall location, will be locked out of the building this week.

The city began actions to cut ties with Garrison at the beginning of the month, when the council authorized Eaton to contact the company's bonding agent. The city cited concerns about the timeliness of the completion of the project, the non-payment of subcontractors and production of questionable work as reasons to sever ties with the company.

The bond company had asked Eaton if the city would be opposed to the bond company retaining Garrison to complete the project once the subcontractors had been paid. The council was not receptive to the idea.

"I would be more confident walking on broken glass than letting Garrison back in," Irwin said.

The council voted unanimously to allow Eaton to tell the bonding company the city would prefer Garrison not perform any further work in City Hall.

Public Works Department

The council passed a motion to hire a contract worker to oversee projects under the Public Works Department until an operations manager is hired.

After receiving bids from the work ranging from $30-$80 per hour, the council accepted a bid from the Kurt Jones and Associates engineering firm to oversee Public Works projects for $30 per hour. Kurt Jones and Associates was also the only firm not to ask for travel or per diem expenses as part of its bid.